We are here! Tokyo Disney! While the main goal of this trip was to hit every single Disney park in Asia, and both Shanghai and Hong Kong were highlights for different reasons, we most certainly were saving the best for last! Tokyo Disney is by far my favorite theme park destination in the world and if I had to pick one place to go and never be able to visit anywhere else, I'd be completely happy going here the rest of my life.

It's not just the amazing attractions that made the resort great. It's the amazing attention to all sorts of details, the staff who are the most helpful and friendly of any park you'll ever see, and not just "better" but light years, in a totally different category better. The level of service at these parks is not even something you can really describe in photos, video, or text. It's just something you have to experience, and once someone experiences, they get it.

And then of course the clientele of the park helps make of the rest of the awesome. It's very very rare that you will ever encounter anyone rude or obnoxious, and if you do, chances are very high it's an American or Chinese guest. There is no theme park guest culture more polite and in tune with common sense as Tokyo Disney. And IMO, the guests around you make up a HUGE part of the overall experience. I mean, I feel my liking of Shanghai Disneyland would have been so much better if it wasn't filled with the local clientele. And coming to Tokyo Disney just makes you appreciate the Japanese so much more after being in China.

As you read the report below, some of you may ask "why did we go during such a busy time?" The answer: COUNTDOWN PARTY!!! Countdown Party or "New Years Eve" is a very special time at Tokyo Disney. They open the parks for a special "overnight" new years event from 7pm - 7am. It's the only time the parks stay open later than 10pm, they do a very special fireworks show, and it's one the hardest tickets to get of any Disney event around the world! You either have to be staying at a resort hotel on New Years Eve (and just look up the prices! The hotel we were staying at was $1,000 per night, and that's one of the CHEAPER options) or you have to enter a Japan-only lottery for tickets! It's a wonderful event and if you've been to the parks before, it's not a huge deal with the crowds.

Anyway, we've talked about Tokyo Disney so much that I'm not sure what more there is to say, but please feel free to ask questions as it's a park we love to talk about. Let's get on to some photos and video....

There is no better sight in the world than this right here!

Tokyo Disney Resort taking us to Ikspiari for some dinner & shopping! Going to head there tonight since our first full day at the park is tomorrow!

Just like to point out we're currently in a switchback without a rope &amp; Japanese are perfectly obeying it. No line jumping of any sort. No one crossing over. Just a single file line switching back at the end as if there was a rope in place. Never in America!

It's a requirement that every Japanese guest have something Duffy on their person.

Elissa is so happy her rodents are being featured on the current seasonal merch/food guide!

Yes, they do Haunted Mansion Holiday at Tokyo Disney and this makes us very happy!

Really love Haunted Mansion Holiday. Hope someday it comes to WDW!

It's one of the busiest day of the year here but we've already done Pooh &amp; Mansion and have FP for Monsters and Thunder!

This crazy line to get FP took less than 5 minutes due to the amazing Japanese staff &amp; clientele!

Been crazy busy day but we've already gotten on Mansion, Pooh, Monsters, Jungle &amp; have FP for Thunder &amp; Space! If you know how to navigate the park, even when it's very busy you can get on a lot of stuff. You don't have to rush around like crazy but GET TO THE PARK EARLY! We suggest an hour before the park opens. That might sound rough, but it's WORTH IT when you see just how much more you can get done!

We've taken a lunch break from the park to go cook up some raw meat in Ikspiari!

Remember this place at Tokyo Disney Ikspiari! Delicious lunch full of meat!

I love that they have Clarice as a character here at Tokyo Disney!

This 45-minute line for Pirates took a total of 22 minutes! Gotta love Japanese efficiency!

Tokyo has the classic version of Pirates with the Jack Sparrow upgrade. Please replace this version and all old and outdated versions with the new Shanghai version!

In a past life and an alternate universe, a mouse once paid me to work here...

Would you believe this is the first popcorn we've had all day? And yes it's delicious!

It's SHOWTIME! Gonna check out the Main Street Electrical Parade: Dream Lights and Once Upon a Time. Anyone who knows me fairly well knows that I am *NOT* a fan of the classic Main Street Electrical Parade (other than the world's longest bacon strip float) but Dream Lights is, IMO, the version of the Electrical Parade they should have EVERYWHERE! In fact, whenever I hear someone say "oh, Orlando should get Paint the Night" I assume they haven't seen Dream Lights. I'm not even a parade person and it's fantastic! Here's the replay of our live stream from our visit...

Just watched the Electrical Parade! Now going to hop on Splash Mountain! Single rider line FTW!

Love the Tokyo Disney version of Splash Mountain! So very similar but also different than Florida's version!

Up next...Once Upon a Time! Their amazing castle projection show!

While Walt Disney World now has a version of this castle show, it's not the same. The Orlando version doesn't have all the segments, the lasers, as much pyro, or the additional projections on the side. It's still a great show though, but the Tokyo one is amazing! Here's our replay from the live stream:

Time for a ride on Space Mountain! Here one minute of the light show on Tokyo's mountain!

Just did a one-two punch in ToonTown with Roger Rabbit and Gadget's Go Coaster!

And we are ending our day at Tokyo Disney just like we started it! On Pooh's Hunny Hunt!

Wow! What an absolutely amazing first day at Tokyo Disney! We got an insane amount done for such a busy day! Other than the slight pain of getting up at 6am to be at the park by 7am, at no point were we "rushed" through the day. We took it easy, got lots of FastPasses, and even took two hours out of our day for lunch. But look at how much we accomplished! This is one of the busiest days of the year and we still did every "mountain" in the park, lots of dark rides, saw two shows (technically three as we did watch the fireworks also) and really just had a fantastic day! More updates from Tokyo Disney coming soon!

I've never been much of a Disney person, mostly because I prefer huge awesome roller coasters over "magical experiences," but WOW. This park is high on my bucket list for sure! The most attractive part to me is that there are far fewer annoying, entitled people there!

thrillseeker4552 wrote:I've never been much of a Disney person, mostly because I prefer huge awesome roller coasters over "magical experiences," but WOW. This park is high on my bucket list for sure! The most attractive part to me is that there are far fewer annoying, entitled people there!

Oh, I forgot to mention in my text above that I saw a total of *ONE* ECV in my entire four days at Tokyo Disney and those dreaded "double-wide" strollers are few and far between. For some reason this is a really huge deal for me. The abuse and over-use of both of those things here in America is just embarrassing.

Great TR, it really just looks like a bigger Disneyland with improvements to certain rides. Love all the photos!

robbalvey wrote:Oh, I forgot to mention in my text above that I saw a total of *ONE* ECV in my entire four days at Tokyo Disney and those dreaded "double-wide" strollers are few and far between. For some reason this is a really huge deal for me. The abuse and over-use of both of those things here in America is just embarrassing.

The issue with people in America is they no longer are embarrassed. They lack dignity and shame. "YOU CAN'T JUDGE ME! RESPECT MY LETHARGY!"

Even if they don't add new attractions for the next ten years, I'd have no issues with visiting Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea during each of those years. They set the standards for theme parks worldwide.

What an amazing looking place, I really need to go there some day! Looking at those huge crowds it seems like it would be almost impossible to have a good time at the park. But looking at all the stuff you managed to do in a day and hearing how great it was really says something about how well-run this park is and how well-behaved the clientele is!

Looking forward to see the pictures from Tokyo DisneySea!

robbalvey wrote:Love the Tokyo Disney version of Splash Mountain! So very similar but also different than Florida's version!

Well one thing definitely looks similar, this version also looks like it contains plenty of Brer Bear butt.

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